Sidhu sent to jail on judicial remand

The ex-cricketer was convicted in December and handed down a 3-yr sentence for causing the death of a person in 1988.

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was on Thursday sent to the Patiala jail after he surrendered before the court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM).

Sidhu's appeal in the 1988 road rage case, that later amounted to murder, comes up before the Supreme Court on Friday.

Earlier in the morning, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had said that Sidhu should surrender before the CJM as his bail bond had been executed there.

Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu were convicted in December and handed down a suspended three-year sentence for causing the death of 65-year-old Gurnam Singh in a road rage case in Patiala on December 27, 1988.

Sidhu, charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, had on Wednesday moved an application before the high court to surrender in the case since his appeal against the conviction is listed before the Supreme Court on Friday.

As per rules of the Supreme Court, a convict has to surrender to a court before his appeal against conviction can be taken up by the apex court.

The former cricketer and Sandhu had picked up a fight with Gurnam over the parking of a vehicle at a Patiala market. This led to a scuffle in which Gurjit was beaten up by Sidhu and his friend. The man was seriously injured and had later died.